June 19, 2009

Best in Blog: 19 June 2009

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Happy Friday to Kevin’s cats and the MoJo frog. Three quick MoJo must reads before you glue yourself to today’s Iran coverage:

1) Sotomayor With A Starr

Conservative legal stalwart Kenneth Starr has endorsed Obama’s Supreme Court pick. David Corn broke the news, writing: “He noted that he has not written any official endorsement letter for Sotomayor but that no one had asked him to do so—suggesting he would if requested.” How will Rush, Newt, and other 4-letter-word Republicans take it? Read more.

2) John Ensign’s Interns Pack It In

Now that anti-gay marriage Sen. John Ensign has admitted to his own opposite-marriage problem with The Ladies, will we get an Ensign resign? Note to Ensign interns: MoJo‘s hiring! Join our scandal-free DC bureau and investigate your ex-boss and his ilk for a living. Read more.

3) Did Lead-Laced Sludge Taint Michelle Obama’s Garden?

It’s not easy being green. After the National Park Service disclosed that the White House plot was a wee bit toxic, lead-based paint was fingered as the culprit. But what if the real plot problem is the Clinton-era “very clean poo” once used to fertilize the White House South Lawn? Read more.

Plus, keep an ear out later today for David and Kevin’s week-in-review podcast.

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate